1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally communication nodes in a network, and more specifically, to a method for controlling power of a communication node in a network.
2. Related Art
Along with the rapid digitalization of vehicle parts, the number and variety of electronic devices installed within a vehicle have been increasing significantly. Electronic devices may currently be used throughout the vehicle, such as in a power train control system, a body control system, a chassis control system, a vehicle network, a multimedia system, and the like. For instance, the power train control system may include an engine control system, an automatic transmission control system, etc. The body control system may include a body electronic equipment control system, a convenience apparatus control system, a lamp control system, etc. The chassis control system may include a steering apparatus control system, a brake control system, a suspension control system, etc. The vehicle network may include a controller area network (CAN), a FlexRay-based network, a media oriented system transport (MOST)-based network, etc. The multimedia system may include a navigation apparatus system, a telematics system, an infotainment system, etc.
Such systems and electronic devices constituting each of the systems are connected via the vehicle network, which supports functions of the electronic devices. For instance, the CAN may support a transmission rate of up to 1 Mbps and may support automatic retransmission of colliding messages, error detection-based on a cycle redundancy interface (CRC), etc. The FlexRay-based network may support a transmission rate of up to 10 Mbps and may support simultaneous transmission of data through two channels, synchronous data transmission, etc. The MOST-based network is a communication network for high-quality multimedia, which may support a transmission rate of up to 150 Mbps.
Meanwhile, the telematics system, the infotainment system, as well as enhanced safety systems of a vehicle require higher transmission rates and system expandability. However, the CAN, FlexRay-based network, or the like may not sufficiently support such requirements. The MOST-based network may support a higher transmission rate than the CAN and the FlexRay-based network. However, costs increase to apply the MOST-based network to all vehicle networks. Due to these limitations, an Ethernet-based network may be considered a vehicle network. The Ethernet-based network may support bi-directional communication through one pair of windings and may support a transmission rate of up to 10 Gbps.
Electronic devices included in each system of the vehicle may include a physical (PHY) layer unit and a controller unit which controls the PHY layer unit. The PHY layer unit may operate in a sleep mode, a normal mode (e.g., active mode), etc. The controller unit may operate in a power off mode, the sleep mode, the normal mode, etc. The power off mode may indicate a state in which power is not supplied to a corresponding entity. The sleep mode may indicate a state in which minimum power for basic operations is supplied to a corresponding entity. The normal mode may indicate a state in which power is normally supplied to a corresponding entity. As such, in the Ethernet-based vehicle network, methods for controlling these operation modes are necessary.